The ongoing development of optical storage devices having greater storage capacity has resulted in an evolution of new optical formats. New optical formats are often required in order to exploit advances in the physical capabilities of the devices.
On a data level, optical formats are defined by the data format used and the software used to interpret the format. On a physical level, optical formats are defined by the physical capacity of the storage medium, such as the size of the elements of information on the medium as well as the size of the spot formed by the light source used to scan the elements of information.
When improvements are made to allow for a higher density medium, entirely new formats may be required even if the concept of the operation of the device remains the same. As a result, a recording system for two different optical formats may differ from each other on a physical level in only the size of the spot used to record the information.
Demand for high capacity optical storage systems has stimulated commercialization of new advances in optical formats to the extent that new formats are on the market before the old ones have become obsolete. The standard compact disc (CD) format was one of the first optical formats for storage devices. While the CD continues to be viable in the market, the CD-R and other high density formats are also available.
Optical recording systems used to manufacture optical storage devices are similar regardless of the optical format used. The increased density of information is often made possible by using smaller recording spot sizes. On the data level, the ability to implement different algorithms in the same hardware makes it possible for different optical formats to be supported using a basic recording system. But, because each optical format may have a different recording spot size, the need for optical recording systems to implement the different optical formats creates difficulties on the physical level.
One approach of the prior art is to stop production and change the hardware in the system that sets the recording spot size. This may involve changing lenses or replacing beam blocks having different aperture sizes. This approach, however, slows the recording process because the process must be halted for the substitution and calibration of the hardware required by the new spot size.
Because the technology of optical storage devices continues to progress, and because master optical recording systems are often required to support several different optical formats, a method of quickly and easily changing recording spot sizes is desirable.